Breakfast...uh.. Concoction

Over the course of the past 9 months or so, Sam and I have dedicated our Saturday / Sunday mornings to perfecting this, um, breakfast…concoction.  In our hazy mornings, we have tried numerous combinations of some sort of carb, breakfast meat, eggs and cheese in a casserole dish. We’ve tried many, many different combinations over the months such as, puff pastry, crescents, small biscuits, frozen biscuits, large biscuits, eggs, eat beaters, bacon, sausage patties, bacon bits, thick cut bacon, maple sausage links, etc etc etc….This past Sunday morning we all agreed that we hit the jack pot. Our mouths were quite happy. What is this mysterious wonderfulness, you might be wondering to yourself…. The perfect combination we’ve discovered is as follows:

Ingredients:

½ pack of Pillsbury Grand Layer Biscuits

1 pack of Maple Jimmy Dean Sausage Patties (cooked)

½ cup - 1cup cheddar cheese

2 eggs- scrambled 

 ¼ cup  egg whites egg beaters

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees. Cook the sausage patties and lay on paper towels to drain off excess fat.  Cut the patties into small chunks. Spray a 8X8 glass casserole dish very well with non-stick spray. (remember, you’re going to put eggs into it….that mess doesn’t come off! So be generous with the spray… if not, I warned you…) Peel the biscuits into half long ways  to make them thinner and line the bottom of the dish with as many as you can fit without scrunching. Layer on half of the sausage, half of the egg mixture, and half of the cheese. Add another layer of biscuits and repeat. Top with remaining cheese, salt and pepper.  Bake until biscuits and eggs are fully cooked and top is brown and crispy. 

annnnddd.... Yum Yum yum yum yum

Why the specific ingredients?

The Carb:

We’ve found that refrigerated biscuits work better than frozen ones. They don’t take as long to cook. The ‘Grands’ puff up enough in the oven to give the casserole a solid amount of bread, but it’s not too much biscuit to overpower the dish. We ruled out crescent dough as it is too flaky and  wasn’t quite the consistency needed to uphold the other ingredients. Phillo dough…..next. Small biscuits were also ruled out. I tried to go bargain brand on these and…ewh. It turned out horribly.  Drop biscuits also don't work either. They are too crumbly. 

The Meat:

We chose to go with sausage vs. bacon. I know, I know what you’re thinking! Blasphemy! While we DO love this option with bacon, the sausage is much more dense and holds up in the dish. Also, because it’s not straight fat, it’s not quite as greasy.  Remember to always cook the meat first. It doesn't have enough time in the oven to cook fully so precooking it is the best option. We went with the patties because they are already formed, easier to cook, and have more maple flavoring. “ Maple???? Really?? “ YES. Its perfect. Don’t question this. Sweet and savory? Just go with it.

The Cheese:

We love good ol’ fashion cheddar. American is… just weird in this dish. Mozz is …also too weird. We just like the cheddar option. It’s bold, cheesy, and tasty. Perfect on the top!

The Eggs:

You might be wondering why I put egg whites in with the 2 other eggs. Well. I’ve found that if you have too many egg yolks in the dish, the egg consistency gets to be too over powering.  It’s too…”eggy”. But if you add more egg whites than egg yolks, it seems to work perfectly and be nicely balanced. **Nerd alert ** If you cook eggs in a gray / silver cooking dish, the eggs will turn gray/greenish.  This is due to the iron and other proteins in the egg.  Also, because the biscuits need to be cooked at such a high temperature the egg yolk might also turn slightly in color, but its normal. They won’t taste any different. But this is another reason why I don’t use as many egg yolks in the dish. The less you use, the less green/gray so it doesn’t “look as off putting” (yes…I know a lot about eggs…thanks FACS Ed Degree)

Happy eating!